Belonging Place
by wolf08
Summary: Immediately post-war, once the Infinite Tsukuyomi has been released, Team 7 has a fleeting, heart-felt reunion. Flash fiction. Written for SasuSaku Month 2017 (prompt: even just for a moment).


**A/N:** I wanted to write something that has Team Seven feels. I had a blast writing this and practicing a new tense. I hope you like it. :)

 **Summary:** Immediately post-war, once the Infinite Tsukuyomi has been released, Team Seven has a fleeting, heart-felt reunion. Flash fiction. Written for SasuSaku Month 2017 (prompt: even just for a moment).

 **Song:** Palms – Allman Brown

 **Words:** 1403

 **Disclaimer:** All characters belong to the great Masashi Kishimoto

* * *

 **Belonging Place**

* * *

"T-Thank you, Sakura," Tenten mumbles as I perform the finishing touches on healing the gash in her thigh. She's still rather delirious after just awaking from the dreadful Infinite Tsukuyomi. And numb from the things she witnessed before it.

I heard about Neji and suspect she isn't taking the news well.

"Make sure you get your hands on the ointment I described before," I say. "Apply it twice each day to prevent infection."

"Right."

"And… Tenten," I add as I move my hand from her leg and take her hands instead. I stare into her glistening, brown eyes and try my very best to smile. "You take care of yourself, okay? I'm here if you need anything."

And then there are tears and Tenten's arms are secured around my shoulders. No more words are exchanged but none need to be.

We're in the middle of a devastating war aftermath. There is only so much medicine alone can heal here.

When I'm through with patching up the more severe injuries in the vicinity (and once I notice my chakra reserves dip to concerning levels) I straighten up and reorient myself. I'm feeling a little uncoordinated after healing an entire army (twice, mind you) and helping my teammates defeat the greatest enemy the world has ever seen, but there is a jubilant thrill bubbling beneath my skin that's keeping me upright.

We survived. We won and we survived and the world isn't about to perish.

Tears sting in my tear ducts as I watch heartfelt reunion after reunion – families, comrades, lovers reuniting and basking in the relief that they all indeed made it. There is some mourning, of course, but the fact that there are positive exchanges mixed in is enough. It has been quite a long time since I've felt or witnessed anything but grief, fear, or survival impulses.

I spot Kakashi-sensei a short distance away, sitting on his own. My heart flutters as I near him. There were countless occasions over the past several hours when I could have sworn the two of us were goners, and once Kaguya was defeated, when I could have sworn we would be the only two members of Team Seven to survive.

"Sensei," I say when I'm in earshot and he turns to smile at me, plastering on his calm and collected mask. I wonder if he's thinking about Obito.

He pats the space beside him and I join him in sitting on the protruding stone. "You've done it. You survived your first, and hopefully your last, war."

I laugh a breathless laugh. "Let's not push our luck. This past day has taught me to never get too comfortable."

Kakashi-sensei shrugs. "I don't know. If that war was a test, I'd give Team Seven a passing score. A passing score with flying colours, in fact."

Now I laugh for real. "Somehow I wouldn't put it past you to incorporate this into your teaching regimes," I chuckle.

He chuckles too and ruffles my hair, a familiar, fond gesture. "In all seriousness though, you did well Sakura," he says. I meet his gaze and my heart soars. There's nothing quite like getting praise from a teacher. Especially when it's Kakashi-sensei.

"Sakura-chan!"

I leap off the stone at the sound of the incoming voice.

"Naruto!" I answer as my dearest friend and the true hero of this war leaps into view and he's a galloping blur of orange. And God knows how he still has the energy to move around at such a speed, but I've learned to stop questioning Naruto's inhuman stamina long ago.

Then Sasuke appears and I think I actually stop breathing. I bet it'll take awhile for me to adapt to him returning to us, assuming this isn't just a cruel, teasing dream. And I can't really blame myself when mere hours ago, this man cast me under the most frightening genjutsu I could have ever dreamed up – one where he stabbed me through the heart.

But I have faith in him now. Well, I want to more than anything. When he apologized to me I do believe he meant it. I truly believe he has been saved.

Even if it'll take some time for the rest of the world to understand that. I notice the apprehensive glances cast in the young Uchiha's direction. He determinedly ignores them.

Naruto skids to a halt before me and it's not until he's close that I can tell how exhausted and worn down he is – missing limb aside – with how bloodshot his blue eyes are, at least, the one that isn't swollen shut.

We just sort of stare each other for a moment, while a goofy grin sprouts on his face, and I find myself unable to contain my own when I throw my arms around his neck.

Naruto picks me right up off my feet, which catches me by surprise since he does it with just one arm. "You did it," I gasp. And I'm not just referring to ending the war, but to saving our teammate, to becoming the hero he always aspired to be.

I feel Naruto shake his head. " _We_ did it," he corrects and I roll my eyes because he doesn't need to be so humble at a time like this.

When he sets me down I turn my attention to Sasuke, who is now standing beside Naruto and is watching us uncertainly, like he doesn't think he should be here.

But he _should_ and he _always will_ and the very idea that he doesn't feel that way breaks my heart in and of itself.

"Oh, I'm not leaving you out," I say, trying out a playful tone (though I'm cautious because I'm not entirely sure how to interact with him after everything that just happened). But I approach him nonetheless and snake my arms around his torso, far more carefully than when I hugged Naruto because this is the first time we've touched in a way that _isn't_ aggressive since Obito and I rescued him from Kaguya's dimension. And even then, that touch had only been fleeting.

Sasuke's body stiffens against mine but I don't loosen my hold. Instead I lean my face against his collarbone and close my eyes, relishing in the distantly familiar sensation of clinging onto him, like we've been transported back to our peaceful Genin days…

Then the unthinkable happens. Sasuke hugs me back.

My eyes actually shoot open as he wraps his arm around me and grips the black fabric between my shoulder blades. And I don't dare move when he buries his face in the pit of my neck.

I begin to notice some changes in him – he's much taller and larger than I was ready for, he smells like blood and fire, and his heart is beating faster than I ever recall it beating.

 _Maybe he's afraid,_ I think. It's no news that his acceptance back into Konoha will be anything but a smooth transition and by doing so, he's admitting that he has made terrible mistakes, that we were right all along and that he was wrong…

Tears swim in my eyes and I hold on tighter.

"I don't deserve your kindness," Sasuke mumbles somewhere just below my jaw, and he confirms my inkling about the inner conflict he's currently experiencing.

I let his words sit for a moment and choose my response carefully.

"You're not getting it because you deserve it. You're getting it because you need it. And I…"

But the rest of the words catch in my throat because Sasuke pulls back to look at my face.

 _I will always be here to give it to you,_ I think as I lose myself in his heavy stare.

Neither of us move our arms so I'm trapped against Sasuke's body but that's okay because I feel safe and reassured and exactly where I need to be and I think, maybe, he feels the same way.

As quickly as the moment begins, it comes spiralling to a halt when Ibiki and the other personnel from Konoha's interrogation unit arrive on the scene. Sasuke doesn't resist when they cuff his hands and lead him away.

He looks over his shoulder and catches my eye as he leaves, and in spite of my grief over losing him again so suddenly, so quickly after I got him back, I get the sense that a new story is just beginning.


End file.
